


A history of Sozin and post-Sozin theatre

by uniqueafternoon



Series: The Avatar World: An Academic View [3]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Academic, F/M, Gen, History, Theatre
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 21:02:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28749702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uniqueafternoon/pseuds/uniqueafternoon
Summary: "The play Love Among the Dragons II, for example, was a comedy about the courtship of Fire Lady Mai by Fire Lord Zuko, before either of them ascended the throne. Fire Lord Zuko is depicted as an incompetent buffoon, while Fire Lady Mai is cold and uninterested in his advances. Over the course of the play, his bravery impresses her, even as his incompetence reduces all his attempts at romancing her to failure. The play ends with Fire Lord Zuko captured by pirates and about to be killed, only to be saved by Fire Lady Mai who then reveals that she returns his feelings."Love Among the Dragons II was an instant success. Part of this was due to the presence of the Fire Lord himself at the early performances. He enjoyed the play greatly, and regularly saw performances throughout his life. Other popular comedies include Sozin's Retreat and Zhao the Moonslayer."A historical review by Shichi Beifong of New Zaofu University.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Mai/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: The Avatar World: An Academic View [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2044060
Comments: 12
Kudos: 43





	A history of Sozin and post-Sozin theatre

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eruthros](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eruthros/gifts).



**Working paper no. 74 of Ba Sing Se University: A history of Sozin and post-Sozin theatre**

**Introduction**

Plays have always been an important part of Fire Nation culture. Popular among all social classes, it served as common cultural ground. A careful analysis of Fire Nation plays can thus allow us to see common sentiments of the time.

There were two types of performers in Fire Nation theatre: traveling performers, who would go from province to province performing plays based on folk stories, and performers in the patronage system, who were commissioned to write plays by members of the Fire Nation elite and who had the exclusive right to perform those plays for the first five years after it was written. (The Fire Nation royal family, for example, were patrons of the Ember Island Players.) After that, other theatre companies were allowed to perform the same play.

We thus see two different types of plays circulating: the first type are plays based on Fire Nation folk stories, such as _The Tale of the Woodcutter and the Furnace, The Golden Eagle, Zaosi and his Seven Sons,_ and _The Fall of Zhongdu._ These plays are more likely to contain slapstick, wordplay, and comedic elements, although there are tragedies as well (such as _The Fall of Zhongdu_.)

The second type are commissioned plays, associated with the interests of the Fire Nation elite and which slowly spread to other classes after the five year period. Examples include _Love Among the Dragons, The Martial General, The Ancient Carvings,_ and _Szeto's Heroism_. These plays relied heavily on symbolism and allusion.

This typology is helpful as a first attempt at categorising a complex subject. In reality, the plays existed on a spectrum. Some plays, such as _Love Among the Dragons_ , began as commissioned plays but became extremely popular traveling plays. At the same time, Fire Nation royalty and nobility enjoyed traveling performances as well, seeing them as important ways of building a common Fire Nation heritage. Plays are thus an invaluable way of tracking the attitudes of Fire Nation citizens.

**Sozin-era plays**

Under the rule of Fire Lord Sozin, artistic freedom allowed to playwrights was significantly curtailed. The famous Twelfth Decree ( _Fire Nation Manuscripts_ 58.12) stipulated the correct standards for theatrical performances: all references to the Fire Nation army had to show their heroism, all references to other nations had to show their backwardness and barbarism, and portrayals of Air Nomad culture were forbidden. Under such circumstances, very few plays of lasting interest were written. All commissioned plays followed the Twelfth Decree closely; popular plays such as _Love Among the Dragons_ continued to be performed.

**Zuko-era plays**

Fire Nation theatre began its golden age during the reign of Fire Lord Zuko. His Eighty-Fifth Decree ( _Fire Nation Manuscripts_ 59.85) repealed the Twelfth Decree, and allowed greater artistic freedom for playwrights. The first artistic movement which developed was the Popular Humour movement. Traveling performers produced comedies satirising the Fire Nation excesses during the war, emphasising the differences in living standards between Fire Nation nobility and Fire Nation commoners. After three years had passed and it became apparent that Fire Lord Zuko was willing to allow such performances to continue, the plays became both bolder and more sympathetic to the Fire Nation elite.

The play _Love Among the Dragons II,_ for example, was a comedy about the courtship of Fire Lady Mai by Fire Lord Zuko, before either of them ascended the throne. Fire Lord Zuko is depicted as an incompetent buffoon, while Fire Lady Mai is cold and uninterested in his advances. Over the course of the play, his bravery impresses her, even as his incompetence reduces all his attempts at romancing her to failure. The play ends with Fire Lord Zuko captured by pirates and about to be killed, only to be saved by Fire Lady Mai who then reveals that she returns his feelings. 

_Love Among the Dragons II_ was an instant success. Part of this was due to the presence of the Fire Lord himself at the early performances. He enjoyed the play greatly, and regularly saw performances throughout his life. Other popular comedies include _Sozin's_ _Retreat_ and _Zhao the Moonslayer_. 

The second artistic movement which developed was what is now called the Scar movement, focusing on the wrongs which the Fire Nation had done in the course of the war along with the human cost of the war. Some of these plays, such as _The Siege of Ba Sing Se_ and _The Catacombs,_ focused on the decisions of the Fire nation generals. Others had a greater focus on the common rank-and-file affected by the war. _Confrontation_ , for example, featured the story of a Fire nation family slowly torn apart by the effects of war as one son joins the army.

The third artistic movement of interest to us is the Cross-Cultural movement. Playwrights penned scripts about other cultures and their ways, often contrasting them with Fire Nation culture. _Tangguo and Zhongnu_ , for example, dealt with the friendship between an Earth Kingdom boy and a Fire Nation girl, and how they slowly learnt each other customs and deepened their friendship. The play proved so popular that a sequel, _Tangguo and Zhongnu Reunited_ was soon written, featuring the same characters, now older, as a young man and woman falling in love.

Another example comes from the play _The Air Nomad's Journey_ , featuring a young air nomad journeying across the world and making friends in four nations. Of particular note is the play _The Avatar's Romance_ , combining elements from both the Scar and the Cross-Cultural movements. It was a fictionalised account of the lives of Avatar Aang and waterbending master Katara, detailing how they fall in love over the course of the war.

Fire Lord Zuko was noted as a patron of both the Scar and the Cross-Cultural movements, commissioning plays such as _Confrontation_ and _The Air Nomad's Journey_. He also introduced the influential aesthetic concept of _yuugen_ in his book _Fire Nation Drama_ , a memoir combining accounts of the childhood plays he went to with his mother along with reminiscences of his life. He noted that the plays he enjoyed all had the elegance of what he called _yuugen_. This aesthetic concept was later seen as an ideal to aspire to by playwrights and informs aesthetic criticism to this day.

 **Izumi-era plays**

Fire Lord Izumi allowed the same artistic freedom to Fire Nation drama as did Fire Lord Zuko. It may perhaps be said that we still live in the golden age of Fire Nation theatre, although it is still too soon to tell. The most notable development in Fire Nation theatre has been the increasing presence of playwrights of other nations choosing to write for Fire Nation audiences. Gao's recent play _The Moon and the Bear_ is merely the latest example of an Earth Kingdom playwright writing within the Fire Nation's tradition, aiming at the same ideal of _yuugen._

_Shichi Beifong, New Zaofu University_

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for this came from the fic "Ephemera from the Avatar Collection at Republic City University with notes and commentary by the archivists," by eruthros. It mentions Love Among the Dragons II and I ran with it. Read it at https://archiveofourown.org/chapters/540553. 
> 
> Description of theatre were inspired by the European patronage system and Japanese drama. Also Yuan drama, and Le Guin's Always Coming Home is an inspiration for this series in general.
> 
> Yuugen is a real Japanese term and you should look it up. It's beautiful.


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